Coal Creek Farm

Financial Peace

Sea of Gold

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The Architect

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About Me

My name is April, I'm married to Clay, a very tall, very funny architect. He's the city boy and I'm the country girl but together we are turning into homesteading weirdos. We have four kids that we are trying our darndest to raise loving God and His creation. To know us is to laugh with us, we laugh a lot. Especially at each other.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

When we went to Colorado, this was the view out of the front of our cabin. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

My two oldest took a brief break from going down the slopes to take a picture with me and their little brother. See the bag my 5 year old is holding? I had to go buy him a toy because I accidentally threw away a cup that his dad told him he could save as a souvenir.....a paper coffee cup.Could they get any cuter? Look at those little skis! He did such a good job skiing.....after we put him in a class.

Ike turned five last month. I love that I captured his surprise opening up his gift. It was a light saber!

On his cake he wanted everbody....so, Ellen drew all of us on his cake. He wants me to put a picture of him on my birthday cake, I said okay, cuz who wouldn't want this face on a cake?

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

My husband went to Canada for four days on business. I told him to bring me back something good. I told him not to bring me back anything contemporary or masculine. He said, "Then I have no idea what to get you." So this is what he brought me.....

Some lovely Chinese paper, that I will, um, uh, do something with.

A gigantic amount of green tea.

And this; he dramatically whisked out of his bag and proclaimed, "What Mommy doesn't need one of these?!"

Uh, I can think of at least one Mommy who doesn't need or want one of those. So next time I'll add, don't bring me anything Oriental to the list. But, thanks for trying Hon.

Our cats have been sneaking in the house. They have trained themselves.....to pee in the toilette.

(long exaggerated pause, while that soaks in)

I'm not kidding. Now, the sad part is I think they thought that it was obvious to pee in the toilette, because after all, it is constantly splattered with the strong smelling urine of boys that refuse to watch their aim.

So, if you all want to see if this works for your cat, go ahead; pee all over the seat, leave it for a few days and see if the cat reacts.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

I fell down the stairs today. Nothing new, except I did it within earshot of the cleaning ladies. It sounded as if a truck dumped ten tons of rocks and one screaming woman down my basement steps. That wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't already been sorta embarrassed because the cleaning ladies came in the house just as I exited the bathroom and I had to use the air freshener, if you know what I mean, of course that's the room they cleaned first. Kinda impossible to blame either of those situations on my kids and I couldn't hide if I tried, my children always find me.

So, once again, my ego has been lowered quite a few notches and I'm sporting some more bruises. I've seriously thought about starting a new blog entitled "Big Bruised Bumbling Blond".

Friday, January 12, 2007

I don't often gush over my faith, but today God heard my plea and He gladly answered a simple prayer.

"God, Ben has to be found today. Amen"

I know I wasn't the only person praying. God heard all the prayers.

Ben is a 13 year old boy that was abducted Monday after he got off his school bus and was walking the 500 feet to his home. He live less than an hour from my house.

Not only did the officers find Ben, they also found Sean who has been missing for over four years.

I cried out, "Thanks be to God!" and tears rolled down my face when the breaking news came on the television.

I'm so thankful these two boys will be returned to their families. Along with my relief I am scared. I've looked at my children and prayed for God to keep them safe. I gave them a huge stranger-danger lecture.

I will continue to pray for Ben and Sean, there's no telling the trauma they have been through. I'll pray that they will become better men and husbands and fathers because of this awful thing that happened to them. I'll pray for their families that they will be able to live without constant fear of loosing their son again. Lastly, I'll pray for justice to be served to the people responsible.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

I've spent the last two days with my feet encased in concrete blocks that I snapped into two long, slick as snot pieces of plastic things. In each hand I gripped a four foot long stabbing device that my son swears is the coolest swords he's ever seen.

The only thing I feel from my knee to my ankle is PAIN! I can't feel my big toes. I have bruises dotting my legs like a sweet little girls dress made of that polka dotted material, what is that called? My mom says, "It's Swiss." No, that's not it. "Yes it is, it's Swiss. Go on the Internet and find it." I'm on the internet. "It's dotted Swiss." Okay.

My legs look like dotted Swiss, the material not the cheese. Although, I've got cottage cheese on my thighs and my hair was smelling a bit like hair dyer Cheddar today. Does anyone have a cracker, cuz I got the cheese?

No, the picture is not of me. I'm the person making the perfectly shaped pie wedge all the way down the slopes.

I taught Clay, Ellen and Seth to ski yesterday. They are doing amazingly well. They said my method of yelling, "PIE WEDGE! PIE WEDGE! PIE WEDGE!!!" is very effective and the other ski instructors should learn from me.